New data from the National Household Survey (NHS) show that Canada was home to about 6,775,800 foreign-born individuals in 2011. They represented 20.6% of the total population, compared with 19.8% in the 2006 Census. The country’s immigrant population, the ethnic backgrounds of its people, its visible minority population, and its linguistic and religious diversity showed that Canada is an ethnocultural mosaic.

The annual level of immigration is one of the most critical components of a country’s immigration policy. It is difficult to directly compare the costs and benefits of changing immigration levels because immigration can serve multiple goals. However, some narrowly-defined effects can be empirically assessed. This study considers solely the potential influence of immigration levels on immigrant entry earnings. This study focuses on the effect of immigration levels on one aspect of immigrants’ labour market outcomes their entry earnings, i.e., earnings during the first two full years in Canada. An increase in labour supply – that is, a larger immigrant entering cohort – could increase competition for the types of jobs sought by entering immigrants and place downward pressure on wages for immigrants arriving in that cohort.

Brokering Success examines the improvement of employment outcomes for skilled immigrants through strengthened government-employer engagement. It explains the necessity to design and implement initiatives that focus on “demand-led” employment supports for new skilled immigrants rather than those solely focused on job seekers’ skills and abilities.

This paper asks which strategies and levers are used by all three levels of government in Canada to engage with employers to fill their talent needs and improve employment and economic outcomes of skilled immigrants. It also explores how these strategies can be improved. As negotiations on the Canada Job Funds (previously the Labour Market Agreements) proceed, governments across Canada are making important decisions about how they will provide employment supports. These changes in the labour market training architecture coincide with significant changes to Canada’s immigration system, with the expectation that the Express Entry application management system will be rolled out in January 2015.

Immigrant attraction to small communities is a growing reality in Canada as a result of the recent regionalisation, “marketisation” and decentralisation of immigration policy. These changes have increased the influence of local actors–municipalities, employers, and community members–in the immigrant attraction and welcoming process. Drawing on a “welcoming communities” perspective, this research report sets out to understand the drivers of small-community immigrant attraction, the challenges that result, and the existing responses of local actors to these challenges. To this end, six small communities are selected for case-study analysis using a quantitative method applied to the 2006 Canadian Census. Interviews with local municipal staff, employers and community actors are conducted within each case-study community. Drawing on the findings, a typology is developed which describes and contrasts five key immigrant attraction dynamics. A key finding is that while governments at all levels create policy that facilitates regional immigration, the private sector is most often the operative actor.

Canada InfoNet is an online forum providing mentoring and access to resources and other services that help internationally educated, business and trades people integrate into Canadian society and find jobs in their chosen profession.

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS - Help us create a modern content & learning hub for Canada’s career professionals
How career development professionals find and interact with resources on the web today is changing. CERIC is committed to continuing to offer content online for Canada’s career professional communities, but is seeking to evolve its digital platforms to meet learning and information needs in the most modern and engaging way. To help us validate and refine our current direction as part of a full and instructive discussion, we will be holding a series of facilitated discussions (in person and online) on November 20, 22 & 27. For more information or to register, go to https://ceric.wufoo.eu/forms/help-us-create-a-modern-content-learning-hub/

ContactPoint is a multi-sector online community for professionals in the career development field.